The first Friday of each month offers econ wonks their best peek at who’s working, who’s not, how much, and in what sort of jobs. And it gives politicos from each party a chance to take shots at the other, depending on the data and who’s in the White House.

The latest go-around Friday saw another brief skirmish, but it also showed how muted an issue the economy looks likely to be come the November midterm elections.

U.S. employers maintained a solid pace of hiring for a second straight month in March, but the economy remains far short of the breakout performance many economists hoped to see early this year. In the photo, people attend a job fair in Detroit last month.

Reuters

On the one hand, a positive turn in many of the deeper job trends is clearly depriving the Republicans of ammunition. But the job market is hardly on a tear, and it may take months for the latest green shoots to translate into wider optimism. Democrats shouldn’t bank on the economy giving them much help.

The topline number—an extra 192,000 jobs added in March—was healthy, but not outright robust. A robust number would have been more in the order of 250,000. And yet the report did offer the White House a chance to tout details suggesting the off-and-on recovery is finally on firmer ground.

Some highlights? After plunging in 2008, private-sector employment is now back to a new high. That fact grabbed headlines. The proportion of all Americans who are working, nearly 59%, is at its highest level since the summer of 2009. The pool of the long-term unemployed has shrunk. More discouraged workers appear to be returning to the labor market.

The Republicans, meanwhile, had little to highlight in the monthly ritual of making hay of the job numbers. The Republican National Committee shot an email blast to reporters noting that “young people” haven’t seen “any benefits” under the current administration. As proof, the RNC cited how the jobless rate for 16- to 24-year-olds had moved to 14.6% in March, from 14.5% in February.

The White House, too, found statistical solace in curious places. “The average workweek in the manufacturing sector rebounded to 42.0 hours in March, tied for the highest since July 1945,” it noted in an an email Friday to reporters. It so happens the number was the same in November.

Some of the job data gave ballast to both sides. The White House could point to an uptick in job seekers among the long-term unemployed as proof of deepening vigor in the job market. For Republicans, the same factoid offered evidence that December’s curtailing of federal jobless benefits had nudged people to seek jobs.

For now, the January jitters over a softening job market appear to be abating. But nor are we back to the bullishness of late last year. The country has clearly left the recession behind. But the public isn’t feeling it: 57% told last month’s Wall Street Journal/NBC News pollsters that the recession wasn’t over.

The forecast for now, partly cloudy with a chance of sun, could hold well into summer. That will do neither party much good.

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